COMPOSERS: Mozart
LABELS: Erato
WORKS: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K467; Piano Concerto No. 26 in D, K537; Rondo in A, K386
PERFORMER: Maria-João Pires (piano); Orchestre de la Fondation Gulbenkian de Lisbonne/ Theodor Guschlbauer
CATALOGUE NO: 0630-10712-2 ADD (1974/75)
Bilson’s Archiv survey of the Mozart concertos remains pre-eminent among authentic accounts of these works. His reading of the tempestuous K491 in C minor forms the central panel of this sublimely compelling and erudite tryptych, framed by K488 in A, and the E flat concerto, K449. Immaculately played and recorded, you’ll encounter no finer period performances than these.
Maria-João Pires, a Mozartian of proven eminence, receives inept support from the Gulbenkian Orchestra under Guschlbauer in K467, K537, and the Rondo, K386. Admirable pianism, but Erato’s digital transfers are feverishly brilliant, and thus these mid-Seventies recordings may be confidently overlooked. Michael Jameson